twitter has been #prayforboston. this is a tweet that we felt represented what a lot of you felt happened yesterday still doesn't seem real. shalen harris said yesterday, that's how it feels for her. the boston red sox wrapped up their annual patriots day game yesterday. a lot of people had flowed out from that game to celebrate at the finish line. david ortiz tweeted out a picture of the team's logo wrapped in a blue ribbon and said during hard times like this, the stronger stay together and our nation is best at it. google yesterday quickly stepped in with a person finder web page to help anyone looking for someone involved in yesterday's race. david ortiz captured it, when these things happen, they happen anywhere, they happen anywhere around the world, but there is something hopefully an example that americans can set by their resilience and stepping up and showing that they are not afraid, that perhaps can give

so solace to so many. our special coverage continues with anderson cooper and brooke baldwin. good afternoon, everyone. i'm anderson cooper live in boston. this is our continuing live coverage of the terror attack here in boston. i'm standing about four blocks from the scene of the center of a massive investigation right now. >> and i'm brooke baldwin also live here in boston. what a past 24 hours it has been for doctors and nurses and these families here, right here where i'm standing at brigham and women's hospital in boston, they're treating more than two dozen victims from the bombings at the marathon. we'll talk to chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta about what we're hearing, why so many amputations, and we're learning more about the shrapnel that has been embedded in some of these young people and older people, lower extremities.

anderson? >> and we're getting new information really by the minute here. there are brand-new developments in the investigation. and the hunt for the person or people responsible for this attack. we're learning more about the bombs themselves, including the likelihood that a timer was used. there had been a lot of questions whether this was something that would have been detonated by a cell phone. it seems likely, though not certain, according to law enforcement, that a timer was used. we'll get to all of that in a moment. i want to begin with the reality, for many families that they are dealing with right now. for some, it will be intense therapy, adjusting to a life with fewer limbs. we're seeing a lot of lower limb amputations. today, doctors spoke of being forced to finish the job of the bombs, amputating people's legs to save their lives. the latest at this hour, three people known dead. at least 174 injured, including 23 people who are critically injured. the stories of loss and pain, we keep learning new details. one runner's camera was rolling

as she approached the finish line. take a look. as loud as that blast was, it was into silence that another witness felt the full impact of what she survived. >> i got home last night, at about 11:00, and started to break down because i had been holding it in all day, i had been trying to remain composed, but by the time i was trying to fall asleep it was all hitting me, this is really real and waking up this morning and realizing, it is not a nightmare, it actually happened. >> there is also this mother of five, the boston globe spoke with, liz norden. her two sons were in the stands at the finish line when the blast, 12 seconds apart went off. each son ultimately lost a part of his leg from the knee down, the globe reports. she told the paper, i feel sick. one family from the dorchester neighborhood of boston maybe

bearing the worst of what happened nearly 24 hours ago. they gathered to celebrate their father to finish the rain and they suffered the loss of their child, 8-year-old richard martin, seen here in a facebook photograph, one of the three people that we know have died. the boston globe tells richard's story, quote, one of the dead was an -year-old boy from dorchester who had gone out to hug his dad after he crossed the finish line. the dad walked on, the boy went back to the sidewalk to join his mom and his little sister and then the bomb went off. that little sister also injured and the mother as well. that's what richard's family is dealing with. obviously that devastating loss. gary tuchman now is live in dorchester with their story. gary? >> reporter: hi, anderson. this house behind me, this gray house, is where the richard family lives. very happy family, very popular, the neighbors speak very highly of them. yesterday, bill richard, the husband of the house, left early in the morning to go to

hopkinton to run the race and the other four members of the family, his wife, his two sons, and his daughter went to the prudential center, john hancock building area of boylston street, where the finish line has been for dozens and dozens of years for the boston marathon to wait for the dad to cross. that's when disaster struck for this family. little martin richard, 8 years old, killed when he went to greet his father, after his father finished the boston marathon, should have been a wonderful, unforgettable moment for the family, instead it is unforgettable in a different way. the family released a picture of their little boy. and this picture shows him like lots of other little kids here in new england, a big boston bruins fan, the bruins won the stanley cup two years ago, created a whole new legion of fans and here he is smiling at the game. that picture release ed by his father in mourning right now. here's what the father, bill richard, has to say. he's released a statement. and this is what it reads.

my dear son martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on boston. my wife and daughter are both recovering from serious injuries. we thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers. i ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember martin. we also ask for your patience and for privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover. thank you. there is also another picture that has been released. and this picture is very, very hard to look at. not because it is grotesque, but because it is so beautiful. this is what happened last year. this little boy was in second grade, he was going on a peace walk to promote peace in the city of boston. and this is what he was holding in his hand. martin richard, holding a sign that said, no more hurting people, peace. and two hearts and a peace sign on that little sign that this little boy who has now passed away, was holding last year when he was just in the second grade. right next door to this gray house, a neighbor who has known the family, we talked to her a

short time ago, she saw the father when he came home last night, at that point she wasn't clear, she wasn't clear exactly what had happened. >> i saw him get out of the passenger seat, and he looked like he was in a state of shock and i said, bill, he didn't answer me. he just walked very slowly into the house. his friend came over. and i said, is everything okay? he said, no. martin was the little boy that was killed. and i was -- i was speechless. and i didn't -- i think he probably said something about demees ad denise and the little girl, but i was in such a state of shock, i didn't even hear what he said. i started to cry. and i said, if there is anything i can do, please just let him know, i am here. and please send him my deepest sympathies. >> i want to bring a news conference that schaapthat is h right now. let's listen in.

>> -- seek out and bring to justice those terrorists who sought to destroy our city. we therefore ask anyone who has information that may be helpful in this investigation to please contact the boston police homicide unit at 617-343-4470. thank you very much. >> thank you, jerry. next speaker today is the president of the boston firefighters local 718, rich paris. >> thank you. to the families of this tragedy, our hearts are with them during this trying time. we took care of the victims yesterday. and we want to take care of them moving forward. we hope that this fund will give us just a little bit of comfort in the days moving forward. the boston first -- fund for the victims of the boston marathon terrorism attack will be

administrated through the boston firefighter credit union. 100% of the proceeds will go to the victims. anyone who would like to make a donation, please send all donations to the boston firefighters credit union, 60 hallet street, dorchester, mass, 02124. i say it again, boston firefighters credit union, 60 hallet street, dorchester, mass, 02124. people can make donations by check or online to the credit union's website. that's at www.bosfirecu.com. there is also a credit union phone number. it is 1-857-220-0133. as the president of the boston

firefighters local 718, i am proud to stand together with my brothers from the boston police unions and boston ems unions to take care of the victims of this tragedy. at this time, i would like to say god bless the victims and god bless america. thank you. >> thank you, richey. before we take any questions, just would like you to join us in a moment of silence for the victims of yesterday's terrorist attack. any questions? [ inaudible ] >> yeah, sure. >> -- mass casualty situation. >> obviously it is very difficult for us. we're human beings like anybody else. and we're not immune to dealing

with grief and the tragedy that we had to deal with yesterday. but we do have our critical incident stress management teams working with those yesterday. i can tell you that unfortunately in our profession we do deal with this quite a bit, though yesterday's scene was particularly horrific. but i have all the faith in the world and confidence that our brothers and sisters will do well. if anyone wants to -- anyone else have any questions? no. all right, thank you very much. thank you for coming. and god bless america. >> you've been listening to -- >> press conference from the first responders, state of officials offering a $50,000 reward for information on the bombings. obviously there is a massive investigation going on right now. they were able to secure the crime scene relatively quickly. and that is certainly something that is going to aid law enforcement in their investigation. want to get the latest, though,

on where the investigation stands right now. the search for who might have done this, the person or persons or group responsible, foreign or domestic, an official telling cnn's susan candiotti that the bombs in yesterday's attack appear to have been placed inside metal pressure cookers and hidden inside backpacks. another source tells our cnn's joe johns that it is likely, but not certain, likely that a timing device was used to activate the bombs. ot a cellular device, but a are at the blast site today where the bombs exploded seconds apart. president obama calling it an act of terror but saying no group foreign or domestic claimed responsibility for the attack. at this point, joining me now is jeffrey deedee, a security consultant, trained with boston police s.w.a.t. team. thank you for being with us. what we know now about the bomb, apparently in a pressure cooker

device, both devices hidden in a backpack, low to the ground, perhaps placed on the street. what do you make of what you're hearing about the devices? >> well, i'm alarmed by what i'm hearing about the devices, because i stand -- i got back last year after nine months in afghanistan, and these pressure cookers are a tactic, technique that is used by the taliban and by al qaeda in afghanistan. very effective weapons, they try to pick the pressure cookers up wherever they can, and they use them to make their ieds. and quite concerned that this is a ttt as they call it in the military that -- >> ttp. >> tactic, technique and -- but the ttp -- procedures -- things of the taliban that we're now seeing here. that doesn't mean it was the talib taliban. other people can read about this. >> we also heard these are relatively crude devices that are available on the internet, people can kind of learn how to make them. >> you can learn how to make them, which is -- which doesn't rule out an international terrorist, certainly don't need

to bring the materials to make this weapon into the country. they're here. you can make it right here. they are crude. that's what the taliban makes, crude ieds. but, again, you know, in the past, people have rushed to judgment as to who was behind attacks like this. so i think we'll let the evidence play out. but it certainly is an indicator of a potential -- somebody who has read about how the taliban makes the weapons or perhaps stronger -- >> it would have been an aid to law enforcement had they actually found unexploded devices as was reported and even some officials were saying had been found yesterday. they're now confirming just the with devices that exploded, not any others that did not explode. it makes it harder to find out the signature of the devices, the manufacture of them. >> that's right. but they will get it. we have great forensic capability, i'm also a former special agent in the fbi. and they will determine where the signatures come from. maybe it is a new signature. maybe they have not seen it before. bombmakers have a signature in how -- >> where they were trained. the signature is basically the

way they maybe do their wiring. they may not narrow it down to one individual, but may narrow it down to a specific bomb trainer who trained these people to do it or it may narrow it down to a website that gives specific instructions on how to do it. whoever may have accessed that website and they'll pull on that to look back to who may have accessed the websites that shows specifically how this type of bomb may have been made. >> we're also now hearing it is likely, not certain, but likely from a law enforcement source that it was a timing device, not a cellular device. they are going to be checking all cell phones, any calls made from the region. but that again is a relatively crude way to do a bomb. >> it is crude. but it is effective. and one of the things i suspected yesterday was that it was on a timer, and i think that we probably were lucky that the casualties were as few as they were. i think that that's an indication of mitigating factors. the active presence of the boston police department, no doubt the individual who placed

these bombs was getting anxious about, my god, this event is almost over, when am i going to get the bombs placed. so therefore they placed the bombs, they didn't have the opportunity to aim them properly because the casualties really, anderson, with this type of attack, should have been in order of magnitude greater, should have been 20 or 30 people killed. >> the fact that so many injuries are low to the ground, the lower limbs, tells you the bombs were placed probably on the ground or low down. had they been placed higher, it is possible the counts would have been higher because there would have been a larger blast radius. >> not only that, but shrapnel and all that is placed higher is going to hit a lot more vital organs, heads, your vital organs, extremities, many people yesterday and many people in afghanistan have survived ied hits where they lose their limbs, because the same explosive force had been delivered to the head or the vital organs in your chest, survival is not as certain in that type of situation. >> also certainly the fact that there were triage tents set up

at the end of the race, i mean, that's a huge -- >> tremendous benefit. and one thing that, you know, people talk about, i think it is -- in due time there will be a good after action what happened, what didn't happen, but what your viewers need to understand is that america has kind of gone to a system of risk-based security. based upon threats, based upon that you know you're running a certain amount of risk. well, one thing you can count on in intelligence is that it will fail you from time to time. so when you adopt a risk-based security posture, rather than a capability based security posture, could someone make a bomb and bring it here, you are exposing yourself to that potential. and you can contrast, you know there was no threat information, but you can contrast this to a times square event that you cover where all the bag checks take place and all because that is a capability-based security approach to that event. >> right. i appreciate your expertise and joining us.

we'll talk a lot in the hours and days ahead. thank you so much. >> thank you so much, anderson. >> nice to see you. we are learning by the minute, by the hour. i'm just getting the name of the second victim who died in yesterday's attack. her name is crystal campbell. a 2001 graduate of medford high school. that's all the information that we have. three confirmed fatalities. we now know the identity of the second of -- of the second victim. we're back in a moment.

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[ male announcer ] engine light on? come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. welcome back to our continuing coverage of the bombs that hit boston. i think it bears mentioning that boston is an extraordinarily strong city. and this is a city that was bruised yesterday, but by no means broken. it is a city which today is standing tall, people are out jogging. the life of the city continues, even amidst the tragedy, even amidst the mourning for the victims lost, the people who were maimed and injured.

those people who are now suffering in hospitals. this city is standing tall and moving forward and while this is a very active investigation, we don't want to give you a sense that this is a city under siege, because it is not. it is a city where the life of the city continues to move forward. we do have some breaking news out of the pentagon on the status of the investigation. for that, to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, anderson, a senior u.s. official is now telling me that, quote, there is no reporting indicating a foreign connection to or -- or any reaction from al qaeda. now, that is based on information that is circulated through the highest levels of the administration about six hours ago. no reporting indicating a foreign connection or any reaction from al qaeda. but what we should emphasize is this is just one thread. the investigation, of course, continues by federal law enforcement on all fronts, looking at all possibilities of foreign groups or some sort of

home grown, if you will, violent extremist. this official also telling me, again, this could all change. that's what they're looking at right now. he said, quote, there were no known terrorist threats to boston or the marathon. but, yes, they are going back to all of the intelligence they have, because i think if we all learned anything over the last several years, you have to go back to everything and see if there is anything you missed. they are looking at this whole issue of the bomb devices being placed in pressure cookers with clocks or timing devices. this, as we have said, is something that al qaeda groups, al qaeda affiliates, have published on their websites. but, again, that is accessible to everyone. that is, those who want to engage in that sort of evil and look for ways to build bombs, you can find the information out there on a variety of websites. so the fact that al qaeda has published this type of information may not be a direct

link at this stage to any kind of al qaeda or terrorist involvement. right now, they don't think it is, but they are looking at everything. anderson? >> right, and, it bears repeating, barbara, it doesn't mean they have ruled out really anything. they're still looking at -- they have no information at this point that it is. >> reporter: absolutely. that is absolutely right. they simply don't have any information to indicate that it is a group. >> it also does not rule out the possibility of a -- somebody inspired by an al qaeda-like group, somebody living here who sees it on the internet and takes it upon themselves. again, all options are still on the table. barbara, in terms of just -- let people know about kind of the huge amount of intelligence that the u.s. collects and often it is not information that they can go through in real time, so there is sort of a backlog of information that they now have to go back and look at. that's correct. a background of -- a backlog of

signals, intelligence and the like. >> reporter: absolutely. and that is always a very crucial problem. the u.s., frankly, eavesdrops around the world on knowing terrorist groups and foreign countries, and scoops up massive amounts of communications data, cell phone intercepts, internet postings, e-mails, internet communications, all over the world. they cannot possibly go through all of it. it has been a continuing issue and problem. they are getting better at it, but they will now go back by all accounts and still look at everything. we talked about this of some being posted on al qaeda websites or al qaeda-inspired websites. they will likely go back, look at who logged on to those websites. trying to determine if they can, the addresses that -- the ip addresses, very tough business to do that. as we know, communications flow around the world through many channels, trying to trace these

communications may be very, very tough. so that, i think, anderson, is why you're seeing this move on so many fronts from talking to the folks of boston who were on the street when it happened, asking for their cell phone video, that might give them the lucky break, the very minimal lucky break that they need, all the way to the most high tech intelligence exploitation that the government can possibly do. they got to look at it all. >> right. while the fbi is in charge of this investigation, it is a multi-pronged investigation involving cia, involving all the different intelligence agencies, intelligence members of the intelligence community, both in the united states and overseas, trying to basically use all the resources the u.s. government, try to talk to as many sources, agents as possible, to get any kind of intelligence that might bear fruit. and, again, this could take an awful lot of time. barbara starr, appreciate that update. we'll check in with you

throughout the many hours. brooke baldwin standing by nearby at a local hospital. brooke? yeah, anderson. i want to talk about the injuries here in a moment. i thought your point was interesting on how this is not a city under siege. i got into town two hours ago, two things i noticed quickly, one, a lot of blue lights, a lot of police presence at logan airport. i had to show my license three times to get on the plane from manhattan to here. but secondly, a lot of turquoise, a lot of turquoise and yellow marathon jackets. i talked to a couple who obviously is still very shaken up but they say they're still proud and showing their solidarity with their fellow runners. again, we're live at brigham and women's hospital here in boston. and it has been a tough 24 hours for the staff here and for the families of the victims from the bombings, from the boston marathon. they're gruesome. some of the people who ran the marathon who have experienced in the military and the doctors here talking about how they're similar to battlefield wounds, people are in medically induced

comas, internal bleeding. we're learning that the oldest patient being treated is 71 years of age at mass general. the youngest, just a 2-year-old little boy. want to bring in our chief medical correspondent, sanjay gupta, who has been here. you've been talking to doctors, listening to what has been going on. we're talking earlier. when you hear about a bomb going off you hear the phrase hit the deck. you said the bombs yesterday were on the deck. they were low. >> that's exactly how they described it to me. i was talking to the chief of surgery here and, first of all, he used the word ied to describe what this was like. and a lot of people are saying how similar this is to what they're seeing in battlefields and according to dr. zinner, very similar. to your point, when you think of the explosions from the area of the explosion, you think about them going up and out. here, it really seems to have stayed low and then eventually came up. and it is important to medical professionals because they're trying to figure out what the pattern of injuries they're

going to expect, lower limb injuries, you heard that. >> the amputations. >> that's the amputations. at least one patient here who had a head injury that required an operation further away from the explosive site. and one patient had shrapnel injury to the neck that actually hit one of the arteries and that needed to be operated right away. those patients are doing okay, my understanding is. that gives you an idea of the nature. >> there were questions over the shrapnel and the nature of the metal and the bb like pieces and the nails and questions whether this came from the environment, right? but it is not. >> i can tell you, as a person who has done trauma surgery, it can be difficult to tell sometimes when you're actually taking some of the shrapnel, wear exactly did it come from. but now they're saying without a doubt, we asked a few times, that there were nails, carpenter nails specifically and, quote, bb-like metal within some of these patients. and so they -- they know for sure it came from the explosive

device. this is a doctor saying that based on their medical examination. this wasn't just debris that was lying around. >> what about also quickly in terms of the amputations, i was hearing one of the doctors saying last night, some of the patients were coming to them very injured, bleeding and saying, take whatever you need, i want to be alive. that has to be tough for a doctor, though. >> these are i think heart breaking decisions. it is a -- you can make the decision fairly quickly if that's going to be the best course of action. >> life or death. >> if you don't do the amputation, sometimes it can mean infection, that can spread throughout the rest of the body. so it is heart breaking, brooke. and this sis a running event an you're talking about lower leg amputations. these are medical decisions. we know there are two patients right now behind us who have known as threatened limbs, meaning they're still being observed, but doctors still aren't sure whether or not they're going to be -- need an amputation or not. >> i need to let you go. you and your crew are heading inside the hospital and you're

going to walk around and let us know what it is like for the people being treated so hopefully we can get you on next hour to talk about that. sanjay, appreciate it very much. anderson, over back to you. >> yeah, we are trying to talk to as many different people who were there yesterday trying to get as many different kind of eyeballs on the scene as possible. seen a lot of video coming out over the last 24 hours or so. we're going to take a short break and we'll talk on the other side to a washington post reporter who was actually running in the race and had to turn right around and start reporting. we'll be right back. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 gives me tools that help me find opportunities more easily. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can even access it from the cloud and trade on any computer. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and with schwab mobile, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can focus on trading anyplace, anytime.

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back here live in boston. we are covering special coverage here of the boston bombings as we're talking today about the investigation, about what happened, about the why, about who was injured and how. we also want to talk about the

white house. we know that certainly the search is on for the bomber, bombers possibly, and the white house deeply involved in that hunt. we heard from the president for a second time. he spoke to the nation late this morning and i want to go to our chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin, for that. jessica, in listening to the president today, he used the word that was conspicuously absent the first time. >> reporter: hi, brooke, he did. that is because some 20 hours after the attack, he was much more confident with all the facts that this was, in fact, a terrorist organization. he spoke originally yesterday, just three hours after the act, and the president speaking from the white house clearly did not want to get ahead of the facts that they were learning here. so a different posture they're taking today. i will tell you the president is sticking to his planned schedule here, effectively signaling to the nation that while everybody is pausing to recognize this great tragedy, the nation isn't

stopping because of it. the president will have an event honoring last year's nascar champion, coming up in less than an hour, actually, less than half an hour, here at the white house. and i would expect he will address the boston tragedy in his remarks. nothing substantial, not a briefing, but i would expect some sort of emotional acknowledgement of what we are all thinking of this day. now, brooke, other events, he began this day with a briefing from his top national security team and we have a photo that has just come out from the white house of that briefing. we reported on it earlier. you see in this picture, which was taken in the oval office, the president, the vice president, fbi director muller, his new -- the president's new homeland security adviser lisa monaco, attorney general holder, and other officials in his national security and security team. we're told here that a lot of the meeting talked about coordination between federal and local law enforcement and homeland security experts. you know, coordination of big

theme after the 9/11 attacks that there was a lack of coordination then. and so i think probably a reason we're hearing an emphasis on how much the white house says there is focus on it today. now, here's what the president had to say when he came out to speak to the public just after that briefing earlier today about what they think could motivate this attack. >> this was a heinous and cowardly act. and given what we now know about what took place, the fbi is investigating it as an act of terrorism. any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror. what we don't yet know, however, is who carried out this attack, or why, and whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual. >> he means by an individual acting alone.

i would not expect the president to visit boston tomorrow, just based on his past response to terror acts in the u.s. they usually give it a good 72 hours or so, so the president's visit does not distract law enforcement resources from the investigation. brooke? >> wouldn't be surprised, though, that he makes his way here sooner rather than later to boston, jessica yellin for us at anderson, as i send it back to you, i was here in boston over the weekend, having a great time, went to the red sox game, but i noticed in last couple of hours i've been here, the tone has been different. i had a lot of take care, be safe from just perfect strangers, just something i've noticed. anderson? >> yeah. as a reporter sometimes you find yourself quite by accident in the right place at the right time. that's the case with my next guest, vernon lowe, a metro editor at the washington post, running in the boston marathon yesterday. he finished the race, just minutes later found himself in the middle of the this breaking news story.

he joins me now. thank you for being with us. i'm glad you're okay. explain where you were when the bombs went off and what you immediately thought. >> it was about three blocks away. i made it through the baggage area. i had my cell phone. i heard two really loud explosions and i immediately thought those are bombs. >> you did national security reporting in the past, a pentagon reporter. you are familiar with the sound. >> yeah. a bombing at the boston marathon is certainly not beyond my imagination. what better high value target with large numbers of people on the street. if you wanted to create mass casualties, this is the place to do it. >> one thing that law enforcement has been saying and i'm wondering what you saw is that they were able to secure the crime scene relatively quickly and clear it out, which is important for the investigation. >> right. yeah. they were -- as i said, i was two blocks away. when they finished the crime scene, pushing the crime scene out, about five blocks away. and completely cordoned

entire prime terre, terimeter. they took control of it really fast. the response was huge and immediate. >> what do you make of where this investigation is now? >> you know, i think they're in the sifting stage. i mean, you know, i think barbara starr made the point a minute ago that nsa and others are still sifting through information that they can't sift through in real time. the boston police commissioner said earlier this morning that they have assigned officers to start going through all the video, surveillance video from all the stores and business establishments on boylston street, which will take a long time, not to mention all of the cell phone pictures people were taking. so i imagine that's a long, long process ahead of them. >> what do you think this means for the -- you've run this race, this is what, your 12th. it has a special place in your heart. >> right. >> to have this happen, on this day, what do you -- >> it is hard to reconcile, you know, the mood usually after the

boston marathon. it is a celebratory, soulful vibe around the finish line. you've just run a marathon. you're being met by family members and friends, and suddenly to have that marred by a bombing, you know, it kind of makes running a marathon seem pretty insignificant. >> yeah. >> i mean, i hope the boston marathon, i'm sure the boston marathon will continue. >> yeah. i have no doubt it will. this is a city which believes in moving forward and wants to, you know, show their best face and will next year. it will continue. vernon, i appreciate you being with us. thank you for your reporting. vernon was taking about barbara starr at the pentagon. let as go back to barbara. she has some breaking news. what are you hearing now? >> reporter: my colleague elise labott is reporting that officials are telling her we had all this discussion about a saudi male, possibly injured in the hospital. officials are now saying this is a man who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

he -- this saudi gentleman was a spectator at the race. he was injured and running away because of his injury. he was stopped. authorities questioned him, but came up empty as they say he simply was someone in the wrong place at the wrong time. important, i think, anderson, to take a deep breath. as you know better than anybody in the opening hours of these types of events, lots of rumors, lots of parts moving around in the investigation, and many of them prove not to be accurate. this is one of them. and this all goes against -- the point we were discussing a minute ago, the initial reporting is that they have no indication at this time of a foreign connection or an al qaeda reactikreaction. that is not to say they won't find one, not definitive by any stretch, but right now that's what some of the current information is telling them. anderson? >> with the significance also of

the now -- that breaking news you reported from, elise labott is reporting, about the saudi national being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it is also kind of points out that there was a lot of reporting last night about this house, this apartment being searched in revere, massachusetts, which was connected to that saudi national. that clearly means that that house search then of the saudi national was just a bystander just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that house search then did not turn up anything as well. and is now not significant as part of this larger investigation. so, again, as you point out, rightly so, often -- and we kept saying this yesterday, that a lot of the initial reports, even the initial reports that often come from authorities, from police sources, are on the record, often turn out not to be the case. for instance, reporting yesterday based on police sources and police public statements that another device was found, and harmlessly detonated or unexploded devices found, those turned out not to be the case. we know there were not other

devices that were found unexploded and, again, barbara, i appreciate your reporting. go ahead. >> reporter: let me jump in for one second, anderson. why is all of this, you know, aside from finding a perpetrator, why is this so important to the u.s. intelligen community? look at it this way. if they had had an al qaeda plot and we still don't know the final answer, but if they had an al qaeda plot carried out in boston against the american people with no warning, no indication that it was about to happen, that would be a massive significant issue for the white house, and for the administration. after all these years, how could they miss an al qaeda-organized massive terrorist plot. if this turns out to be for lack of a better phrase a home grown terrorist, a violent extremist, somebody who went out and bought a backpack and a bunch of pressure cookers and nails and ball bearings which are unregulated items, that becomes a different issue.

the sad fact today is if somebody is going to perpetrate that kind of evil, law enforcement is going to have a very tough time finding all these people before they carry out their plots. so that's one set of circumstances for the challenge for law enforcement and intelligence. if it was an al qaeda plot, a very different situation for the white house to have to explain to the american people perhaps. and, again, we still don't know the final answer. >> right. barbara, appreciate that. we are trying to tell you as much as what we don't know as much as what we do know because it is important to just admit that the lack of information in some cases. also, a lost times other things are occurring elsewhere in the country that are -- it is easy to feel like it is connected to what is happening here. that can often instill fear in people. we're trying to limit that as much as possible. i am just getting more breaking news that american airlines has grounded all of its flights until 5:00 p.m. eastern this evening. we're told by the airline, though, it is because of a computer glitch with its reservation system. that is all we know.

not to read anything more into it than that. that's what they're saying, a computer glitch with the reservation system. we'll have more on that situation in a moment. that is going to cause a lot of problems for travelers around the country at airports around the country. let's check in with brooke baldwin again. brooke? >> coming up, i'm sure you've seen the cover of the "sports illustrated" magazine out on newsstands today. a poignant picture with the one word, boston. we're going it talk to the executive editor of "sports illustrated," talk about why this picture, and, look, this is a big sports town. boston, massachusetts, what does this do to the psyche of a sports fan and security at stadiums nationwide? you're watching special live coverage of the boston bombings. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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back here live in boston. i want to show you the cover of

the "sports illustrated" magazine. you've seen the video, you've seen the explosions at the finish line at the boston marathon and the 78-year-old runner fall to the ground, shaken by the explosion right around the finish line, just yesterday afternoon. his name is bill iffrig. he talked to piers morgan just last night about falling and wanted to make sure going to right back up. take a listen. >> well, i was just in the last straightaway to the finish line and i had a good day and i was feeling really good. i got down to within about 15 feet, as i was finishing, and just tremendous explosion, sounded like a bomb went off right next to me. and the shock waves just hit my whole body and my legs just started jittering around. i knew i was going down. and so i ended up down on the black top. and i didn't feel any severe pain, but as i rolled over, i

seen a scratch on my leg, but nothing too bad. so i laid there, just momentarily, one of the finishers assistants come over and talked to me and asked me if there was anything they could do. and offered to give me a hand, help me get up, and help me get over the finish line so i could complete my race. we did that and i felt okay. so i told him, i was probably all right, he insisted on getting a wheelchair over there. so we started to do that, but then before they had one rounded up, i said, hey, i'm only -- my hotel is six blocks away. so i think i can make it okay. so they let me get out of there and i went on home to my wife. >> executive editor of "sports illustrated," you write all kind of columns, it is great to talk to you. i wanted to ask you, of all the pictures, we have seen the video, the explosions, the smoke, the tragedy, the blood,

why this particular photograph? >> well, yesterday afternoon we realized we would have to have a new cover than the one we anticipated. and this image was just so arresting. you can see for yourself. it certainly conveys the gravity. we see a sporting event, three officers, one of them with a gun drawn. we didn't know this gentleman's age, back story, he would finish the race, but it conveyed a sense of heroism too. again, a day late, i think we would have chosen the same image. >> i'm hearing you said you knew you had to change your cover. so this was just yesterday afternoon when you all made the call. >> yeah. literally to the minute, 24 hours ago, it was a fairly conventional issue, talked about the masters and nba story and then this event happened. it became clear to us very quickly, monday is our close day, but it became clear to us very quickly this was a much more significant sports story, had a writer, two writers in boston and we quickly

reassessed. >> when you cover tragedies, people oftentimes, they're in the communities, and i talked to people, and they talk about resilience, resilience of a community after something like this happens. and i'm just wondering, since this man's story, you see him fall from the explosion, he gets up, he wants to finish the race. i'm thinking it is symbolic perhaps for boston. >> exactly. if you want to talk about symbolism with the flags of different countries waving behind him, 78 years old, and he's going to finish that race -- determinedly he's going to finish that race. and, again, this may be an iconic image of this horrible event, but in addition to the horror conveyed, there is a certain heroism in there too. >> how, jon, this incident yesterday, 24 hours ago, big picture, i mean, i said this is a huge sports town. they have been wearing patches for newtown, this is really the new england team, and here now

their city is impacted. how will this impact just the sports in general here? >> yeah, it is a good question. on some level you don't want to overstate this. sports are just games ultimately in the face of tragedy, but they really do have this ability to restore and to accelerate healing. they represent a community, boston, as you mentioned, is a particularly avid sports town. a lot of athletes stay there. we saw it with 9/11 here, where i am in new york, we saw it in london in 2004. sports do have an ability to accelerate the healing and bring a community. we have seen the divisive forces, sports can be a uniting force. >> hopefully it will continue to unite despite the fact it happened of all places at the iconic boston marathon. jon wertheim in new york. anderson, back to you. we're anticipating a press conference momentarily at mass general. want to get the latest information on those being

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want to talk about one runner who finished the boston marathon just yesterday, but she did so with her mother standing by. i'm sure a very proud mom, but mom ended up being injured in the explosion as did we now know some 176 people who have been taken to area hospitals such as brigham and women's. i want to bring in rebecca roach, she is joining me here. and, rebecca, tell me, was this your first marathon. >> yeah. that's correct. this was my first marathon. >> and how are you? >> i'm okay. shaken up, but not nearly as much so as my mom and one of my

good friends. >> let's talk about your mom, your mom drove quite a ways, couple hundred miles from what i've read to watch you from the side near the finish line. how close was she to the bomb? >> as far as i understand, she was right next to the bomb. mom and dad drove from the chicago area out here, and they were -- mom and two friends were at the marathon sports store where a lot of damage took place. >> and, so, you finished the marathon, seconds before the bombs went off, correct? >> yes. that's correct. the bombs went off. i should say i finished and i was literally getting wrapped in my mylar blanket and heard the first explosion, turned and looked and realized it had to

have been right in front -- and tried to go back. i was obviously pushed away for good reason from the police, but then heard the second bomb, tried to rush back again. wasn't allowed back, so it was quite a while before i was reunited with my family and special my mom. >> so, may i ask how old is your mother? >> she's 60. >> she's 60. so you can't get to your mother. as you say, understandably so, you know, police and ems, kudos to them, rushing towards people like your mom trying to help them. when did you finally see your mother? give her a hug? >> it wasn't until i was reunited with everybody but my mom. we had -- we had some trouble finding out where she was triaged to and then found out she was at tufts medical center pretty late in the day, but finally saw her about 9:30 p.m. last night. and this was after she had surgery.

>> before i let you go, rebecca, i have to ask, i flew into boston a couple of hours ago, i was really surprised by how many people were walking around, waiting for their flights, wearing their marathon jackets. when you put your marathon jacket on now, how do you feel? what does that symbolize for you? >> at this point, it is a community coming together and circumstances that were devastating, but, you know, the boston community and the running world is strong and we have a very strong spirit. >> it is tough to hear, rebecca. tough to hear you, rebecca. but the few words i heard was a sense of community and that sort of echos what some of the folks i asked about in the airport, rebecca roche, glad you're okay, glad your mom is okay. thank you very much, i appreciate it.

welcome. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and watching around the world now at the top of the hour. it is our continuing coverage of the boston marathon tragedy. i'm anderson cooper live near the scene, a couple of blocks away. american airlines has grounded all of its flights. they say this is due to troubles with its reservation system. there is no reported link between this mass grounding and the boston bombings investigation. we're trying to get more information. american airlines handled an average of 3400 flights per day with a quarter of a million passengers. obviously this is a huge story that will affect people traveling around the country. the airline says the system wide ground delay will be in effect until 5:00 p.m. eastern. we also want to get you updated on the latest developments in the bombing here in boston. here is what we know at this hour. federal law enforcement official tells cnn that a timer was likely used to activate the bomb and they were not detonated remotely. that's likely used. we also know that both the

deadly bombs were apparently placed inside metal pressure cookers and hidden inside backpacks. doctors believe that pellets, nails, carpenter nails and other sharp objects were packed inside the bombs and used as projectiles and to inflict maximum damage on people when the bombs exploded. >> there are a variety of sharp objects that we found in their bodies, probably this bomb had multiple metallic fragments in them and we removed pellets and nails. >> we are expecting another press conference at mass general shortly. we'll bring that to you live. president obama earlier today called the attack an act of terror. >> this was a heinous and cowardly act. and given what we now know about what took place, the fbi is investigating it as an act of terrorism. anytime bombs are used to target

innocent civilians it is an act of terror. >> the president also added that this is still unclear who carried out the attack. and exactly why. unclear whether it was a foreign individual or group, a domestic individual or group. 11-year-old aaron hearn was one of the people wounded in the attack yesterday. he is currently in the hospital being treated for his injuries. his father, alan, joins us now by phone. thank you for being with us. i'm so sorry for your son, his injury. how is he doing? >> he's doing okay right now. he's in icu at children's hospital. he sustained a pretty large shrapnel wound to his left leg. kind of like a war wound, but he was hit kind of on the outside part of his leg, so fortunately it didn't hit an artery, didn't break a bone, and didn't damage a vein that returns blood to the heart. right now they're going to let

him sleep today. tomorrow they're going to look at the wound between, clean it, see if there is any fragments they missed, see how much skin they can salvage. if not, he may have to have a skin graft somewhere down the road. but otherwise, he's stable, and could have been a lot worse. has a lot of abrasions and scrapes on his body, but majority of the blast hit him on his left side of his body. and i guess hit other parts of his body, but those are superficial and should heal with no real problems. >> has he talked to you or asked you about what happened? i'm wondering as a parent, what do you say? this is something that a lot of parents are facing right now. >> not yet. he's mostly been sedated, just to keep him comfortable. when they moved him in his bed today, he did kind of wake up for a few minutes. he knew we were in the room, he opened his eyes, fluttered his eyes, raised his arm to squeeze our hand and he knows we're there. so we didn't want to get him too excited because you can see on

the monitors his heart rate would go up a little bit. a few minutes later he would drift back off into sleep. they're trying to keep him comfortable today, and then maybe tomorrow sometime we'll start to bring him out where he can talk to us, but right now we don't really know what he saw, what he remembers. what kind of help he's going to need later. >> i don't want to intrude on your privacy and i know you're probably inundated right now. i just want to thank you for talking with us. our thoughts and prayers are with your son and your family and obviously all those affected by this tragedy. thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you. >> we do have that press conference in mass general that is just occurring now. let's take a listen. >> some of them are awake right now. so they are much better than they were in the morning. but still have suffered severe injuries. they have suffered severe blood

loss and extensive surgical procedures and therefore they would be considered still in critical condition. nevertheless, much better than this morning. [ inaudible ] i think that the patients are still critical, but i think that they're better than they were a few hours ago. >> what can you tell us about the -- indications to the family. >> yes, they have. as a matter of fact, i've been moved and as a matter of fact really amazed by the resolve of our patients. i talked to some of them. i talked to some of the families. they're really amazing people. some of them woke up today with no leg, and they told me that they're happy to be alive. they thought that -- they told me that they thought they would die as they saw the blood spilling out. they thought that they would lose their life right there and then. and as they woke up today from

surgery, and they saw that they're not dead, they feel extremely thankful and some of them told me they feel lucky. and it is almost a paradox to see these patients without an extremity to wake up and feel lucky, but that's our patients. [ inaudible ] >> no. i stayed away from the discussion at this point. [ inaudible ] >> do you know how many -- [ inaudible ] >> there are four. [ inaudible ] >> -- blast injuries, where did they get -- >> so a lot of us have experiences from overseas. some of us in battlefields, and some of us in other countries. but we all have experience with blast injuries. and we all have, of course,

excessive experience with traumatic injuries in general. i remind you this is a team that is dedicated to trauma and takes care of trauma predominantly as the main scope of their surgical practice. >> where was your experience from? and some of the others' experience? >> i've been in south africa for a long period of time. and another member of our team is actually military surgeon and he's been both in afghanistan and iraq. >> can you talk more about the complexity -- or the bombs and how they were made and what they contained? >> i don't think i have any more information than i gave you this morning. as i said previously, this bombs contained small metallic fragments, more consistent with pellets, but also other small pieces of metal, and also spike

points that resemble nails without heads. so obviously a mixture of things in there. >> broadly, what are the biggest hurdles in treating these critical patients? >> i think it is a function of this hospital that it has endless resources in the care of the trauma patients, trauma in general is extremely challenging because so many specialties need to be pulled over. trauma surgeons, plastic surgeons and thoracic surgeons and emergency medicine physicians and rehabilitation and trauma psychologists and you name it. and really this hospital has the ability to pull all the resources to the bedside of the trauma patient. so the greatest challenge that exists, which is to have all the specialists available, is really no challenge here. >> this your last update, federal investigators have been able to speak with more of your

patients? >> believe it or not, i've not given a report right now, i have no time to speak with federal investigators yet. [ inaudible ] >> exactly. [ inaudible ] >> yes. >> and the other two are -- >> they have extensive wounds and burns, so most of these patients suffered burns too from the explosive power of the bomb. and they also have extensive wounds from the shrapnel and the metallic objects that tore their skin. [ inaudible ] >> -- what type of treatment, what types of injuries are you seeing? >> mostly this was for ruptured tim panic membrane, the blast of the injury ruptured the ear and that's the main reason -- was there any other reason? >> that was the reason we sent

them across mass but we haven't heard any feedback from them in terms of how many had sustained eardrum ruptures. >> and with regard to your critical -- can you walk us through the next 24 hours or so, what are the sort of medical milestones and how do you know they're out of the woods? >> the most important thing, of course, is hemodynamic stability. we'll be looking for the next few hours to have all the patients with stable blood pressures and heart beats, to not lose any blood any further. and then obviously for those that are still intu baited, that are still under support by the mechanical ventilator, to now be ex-tu baited and be able to breathe by themselves. >> do they need blood donors? is that so and can you comment on that? >> it is amazing how many people came to the hospital today to donate blood. i don't have exact numbers but

quite frankly as i was walking on the corridor, i was stopped by volunteers who were asking me where is the blood bank and where can they come to donate blood? amazing response. >> let me just add to that, i've just been speaking to dr. zeek, director of the blood bank here and he indicates that we have enough blood for the moment. as you may know, blood has a shelf life, and so thank you very much, we're okay for today, but you can do, though, is put your name on a list, because these patients will need transfusions over the next few days and weeks. and your contribution to the blood bank will be welcome. >> we don't want to be in the position of having to throw out blood because we have so much today that we can't use it all. [ inaudible ] >> how long -- days, weeks, months? >> i expect that majority of the remaining patients, the

remaining critically ill patients, will be able to be extubated and hopefully come out of the icu in a few days. maybe there is one or two that are more injured than the others, and whom prognosis is still uncertain at this point about the length of the icu stay. but it is still too early to make predictions like that. >> do you expect to discharge any of the patients today? >> none of the patients that we have right now will be discharged today. >> you talked about the experience of your staff. for something like this, is this just another day at the job, is it challenging or is there a -- >> i don't think there is a single person in boston that hasn't suffered an emotional toll. and i don't think that the doctors and the nurses and every single person in this hospital are -- is an exception. we're all extremely moved and i think shattered by the events. having said that, our mission is to provide care, to not be

stalled or hampered by our emotional reactions. we're all trauma surgeons and emergency medicine physicians and we're sad to say used to this devastating events. so we set our emotions aside and we take care of the patients. >> do you anticipate more today and tomorrow? >> yes. >> is there over -- [ inaudible ] >> there will be more surgeries today and maybe tomorrow. >> can you walk us -- having to amputate and what did you amputate and why -- >> it was exclusively lower extremities. i believe that most of the amputations, i actually think all of the amputations were above the knee. >> above the knee. >> yes. because potentially the leg was completely destroyed below the knee. as i said in the morning, it

wasn't a hard decision to make because we just -- we just completed the ugly job that the bomb did, and these patients came to us with completely mangled, destroyed extremities, hanging by shreds of muscle and skin. and we had -- >> we lost the signal of the press conference. just hearing from the doctor at mass general about the kind of injuries they had been seeing and that they have been dealing with. gary tuchman is standing by with new information about one of the victims who has been identified, that 8-year-old little boy, martin richard. gary, what have you learned? >> well, we found out is this that the richard family together, five of them, husband, wife, two sons and a daughter, all went yesterday to the finish line of the boston marathon. the father bill richard didn't run the marathon, he wanted to take his family for a wonderful, memorable day to go to the

finish line of boylston street and watch as a family. that's when the bombs went off. and their little son, 8-year-old martin richard, was killed, and bill's wife is in the hospital right now, serious injury and also his daughter. actually his wife's name is deni denise, his daughter's name is jane. jane is 6 years old. she lost a leg in the blast and lost part of a second leg. and little jane is a dancer. so she is in the hospital recovering. so everyone's prayers should be with both of them. they have one more son, henry, he wasn't hurt, and he's with his father. now, the family has released a picture of martin, a picture of him wearing his boston bruins shirt, big bruins fan, like so many children here in new england, they won the stanley cup two years ago in the 2011 season. also, a statement has been released from bill richard, the father. my dear son martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on boston. my wife and daughter are both recovering from serious injuries. we thnk our family and friends and those we know and those we

have never met for their thoughts and prayers. i ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember martin. we also ask for your patience and privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover. thank you. we also have one more picture that is also quite poignant. and this is little martin, last year, participating in his second grade class in a peace walk in boston, talked about having peace in the inner city. and he's holding a sign that had the very sad irony, no more hurting people. peace. and it had two hearts and a peace sign on it and that's little martin richard. we tell you the reason i'm on the phone now is we're transitioning from the neighborhood at dorchester, a section of boston to, to the st ann church where the family attended. anderson? >> a lot of people lighting candles here in boston and all around the country and around the world for martin and the

other victims and those still in jeopardy tonight. appreciate that reporting. a short time ago we told you about one of the other victims who lost her life in this attack. we are just learning her identity. her name is krystle campbell, a graduate of medford high school, graduated back in 2001. her employer sent out a facebook message. no words can describe how much she meant to all of us. she was an incredible woman, always full of energy and hard at work, but never too tired to share her love and a smile with everyone. krystle campbell lost her life. we're going to talk to a doctor who was on the scene, running in the race, and then turned right around to try to help those in need. i want to bring you up to date with the latest on the investigation. for that, to brooke. brooke? >> in terms of the investigation, u.s. officials are saying that there is no reporting, any connection with foreign connection, reaction from al qaeda thus far. here is what we do know. because different sources are telling cnn these bombs appear

to have been placed in metal pressure cookers that were then hidden in backpacks. in terms of the saudi man we heard about, whose apartment has been searched, apparently sources telling cnn that that has no connection to the blast, but joe johns has been doing some digging and he reported that a timer and not a cell phone is what detonated those explosions yesterday around the finish line of the marathon and joe johns, let me talk to you, in terms of what you know what have you learned in the past hour or so? >> well, first, let me say, brooke, there is a caution on that, and it is likely, but not certain, that a timer was involved. the question has always been whether it might have been triggered by a cell phone. and a law enforcement source telling me it is likely, but not certain it was actually a timer. we also have been trying to get a better feel for the actual timeline of when these devices

might have been planted there on the marathon route. and the boston police commissioner talked about two security sweeps that occurred there on the scene in the hours before and during the race. can we pull that up and listen? >> there san eod sweep that was done. there were two of them done that morning. one was done early in the morning. a second one was done an early before the first runners came across. those two eod sweeps did not turn up any evidence. but because there is unrestrictioned access to the racecourse, because it is 28 miles long, people can come and go and bring items in and out. >> so this answers one question and that question is whether the authorities did their due diligence on security on the race. but it also raises the question, the timeline is important, because authorities would like to pin down the time that is most likely when the devices may

have been planted on the route. if the commissioner is accurate, the second sweep, the second security sweep occurred during the race, about an hour into the race, and no threat was discovered at the time, he said. multiple former law enforcement officials we have been speaking with have told us that it is their professional opinion that if that's true, the most likely time for these devices to are been placed along the route is sometime well into the race, well after the second security sweep. so this would have been a time when there are a lot of people around and also a time for authorities to zero in on when they want to see video and pictures from around the area where the bombs went off. brooke? >> and at a time when young people and families were standing right there, right around the finish line, just sort of blending there into the crowd. it is interesting and significant you point out the timeline here and finding out how this could have happened. joe johns, thank you very much. anderson, back to you. >> brooke, when we come back, i'll speak live with a doctor

who treated victims at the finish line after he himself was running in the race. we'll be right back. >> it was like the first boom, and then another one, boom, and then another one, boom. like one right after the other. like just one big cloud of smoke, white smoke, and then the other one, one right after the other, after the other. it was just crazy. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of the boston bombings. the casualty rate could have been worse had there not been triage tents already set up because this was the end of the race, had there not been doctors and nurses already standing by to care for runners at the end of the race who quickly turned into a triage area. dr. vidic shaw stopped to help the injured. he joins me. how far away from the blast were you? >> about 25 yards in front of the blast. >> so did you know instantly what was happening? >> when first blast went off, i felt the other runners i was with, i wasn't sure if it was something that was supposed to happen or when the second one went off, we knew something was wrong, all the spectators

started running. >> your family was also there. >> yes, that's part of the reason i actually started running toward the blast. i felt like as a physician, we're always obligated to help when we can. we don't get the opportunity that often, i ran to where the first blast was, partly looking to see if any of my family was hurt and looking to help. >> so in looking through the crowd and seeing the wounded people, you were also afraid you were going to see your family members? >> probably the hardest thing i've ever done, looking at the faces of the victims, wondering if any of them would be my mother, father, wife, sister. >> you have no doubt, though, the presence of doctors like yourself and triage tents at the end of the this race helped save lives? >> yeah. i don't think i've ever seen a response as large and as quick as the one i saw. i was running and i -- it was 30 seconds away from me and there were already first responders there, helping people, volunteer physicians, volunteer nurses.

>> no one knows how they're going to respond when a bomb goes off. obviously something you've seen in movies and things like that. to be there, what did you find yourself doing? >> i think with all the training that we got, it is almost routine for us to go through the motions of helping trauma victims. i think the processing of all that doesn't set in until days after. but in the moment, i think all the training that we get, training for moments like these, to be able to act without having to think. >> your family is okay. >> everybody was okay, yeah. >> and at this point, does it seem real to you? >> i think we're all sort of struggling with how to really process this information and like i said, you know, we see a lot of trauma through our training, but not this massive. so i'm not sure what we can do to sort of come to grips with this other than to continue talking to our family and friends and i know a lot of the

hospitals are offering grief counseling and stuff like that which would probably help as well. >> i said a lot over the last 24 hours, but the role of first responders and citizens and doctors and nurses was extraordinary. so thank you for what you did and thanks for talking to us. appreciate it. vidic shaw. up next, more on the other breaking news. american airlines grounding all flights for the next hour and a half. apparently because of a computer glitch. we're trying to find out more information about that. we're back in a moment. can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. you should not start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu.

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you know, boston's journalists and photographers and writers, they're capturing this city like they never have before. i want to show you the picture, the front cover of "the boston globe" this morning and inside was a poignant piece, i just wanted to share with you, penned by globe columnist boston native kevin cullen. it unleashes some rage and a lot of questions. let me read you the first couple of lines. it was as good a patriots day, as good a marathon day as any, dry, seasonably warm, but not

hot like last year. he goes on, in an instant a perfect day had morphed into something viscerally evil. kevin cullen joins me live. kevin, the last time we talked, you were talking about whitey bulger, and your book, and never in a million years did i think we would be having this conversation. i read this column at 2:00 this morning. i can only imagine you penned it pretty late last night. why did you write it? >> yeah. well, i guess i wanted to try to capture what happened yesterday and what it meant to all of us here. but also, this is obviously bigger than a boston -- if you go down to the finish line there every year, all the flags from the different countries, all the runners there are lined on boylston street. boston is an international city anyway, but never more international than on marathon monday, on patriots day.

and it was striking to me if you watch the first responders when they jumped out and they ran toward the bomb, and they had to pull the barriers back, they had to throw all those flags on the street on boylston street, and i described it in my column, those flags almost looked like victims. they were displayed on the street. and in some way they were victims because what happened yesterday wasn't an attack on the boston marathon, it wasn't an attack on boston or bostonians, it was an attack on all of us. >> you know, one of the questions you ask and we don't yet have an answer as far as whether or not there is a culprit or culprits are foreign or domestic, you write, could this be some lunatic from within the united states among us or could it be a foreign connection? and i had two conversations with two different new yorkers today, having -- they have gone through 9/11, and they said, in their opinion, it would be worse if it was an american, some lunatic who did this. do you think it would matter to you? >> i don't think it matters to

the families that were victimized yesterday. i don't think it matters to the first responders who are traumatized by what they saw. i don't think it matters at that level. i think the mind set of anybody that would do that, whether they're domestic or foreign, it is the same. it is dehumanizing the people they attacked. i presume the person who did it may or may not have children. and some day that child might say, daddy, what did you do in the war? and if that person is honest, they'll say, i killed an 8-year-old boy, his name was martin richard. that's what i did during the war. >> it is heart breaking. absolutely heart breaking. if i may, i just want to read the final paragraph of your piece, kevin. quote, president obama asked the rest of the country to pray for boston. but we need more than prayers. we need answers. we need peace of mind. and we'll never have that again on patriots day, ever, because somebody came out here on our

patriots day and launched their own revolution. peace of mind. you say looking ahead, impossible? >> no, i don't think it is impossible. i didn't mean to imply that whoever did this had won in any way, fashion. i feel just the opposite. walking around town today, it reminds me, i was in northern ireland when 28 people and an unborn child were murdered by terrorists. i was on london the day after the bombings on 7/7 and what he saw in those places i saw today. people are defiant. they're mad, they're angry, they're sad. but they will not be beaten. if those guys, whoever did this, think they beat us, they don't know this town. >> they don't know bostonians. kevin cullen with "the boston globe," thank you. thank you for writing this piece. anderson? >> thank you, brooke.

brooke joining us now with some new information in the investigation, cnn analyst and former fbi assistant director tom fuentes and hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks. let's start with the bombs, what we now know. we're hearing the bombs were put in pressure cookers, likely involved with timing device. what do you make of that? >> i would like to know what the basis is that it is pressure cookers because the bomb characteristics look very much like a typical pipe bomb. and a pressure cooker would act like that, and i know from other incidents that pressure cookers have been used basically to use for land -- excuse me, land mines in places like colombia or in the middle east. i'm not aware of one off hand where a pressure cooker was used domestically, an actual crock pot or slow cooker because a pipe bomb would be easier to use and just screw on the caps at the end of the pipe after you inserted the explosive and the detonator and then placed it in a container that has other debris or nails or shrapnel and

exploded that way. so i'm not sure. i haven't seen the direct evidence that the pressure cookers were used that way, but certainly it would have acted with similar fashion to a pipe bomb. >> and, tom, the reports that it was likely a timing device, not remote detonation through a cell phone, the significance of that? >> well, it means that it could have been carried out by one person, go to one location, place the device there with a timer set to go off, at approximately 3:00 p.m. go to the second location, and place the device and then walk away and be gone when both go off. so that's a possibility, depending on how heavy the backpacks were that maybe had the amount of explosives in them, if that's how they were transported. so you could easily have conducted this attack with one or two people doing it. >> mike brooks, in terms of future sporting events, security

of future sporting events, any large gathering of people, it is in many ways a miracle that this has not happened before this in a movie theater or something like this, with a backpack bomb. >> you know, you're right, anderson. we just had the final four here in atlanta, right next to cnn center where i am here. and, you know, i was talking to some security personnel here in atlanta this morning and saying, you know, we're glad that that didn't happen here because of the mass amount of people, and centennial olympic park, tom fuentes, he was running the show back in 1996 when the bomb went off right across the street from here. and i was in d.c. with the fbi joint terrorism task force running down leads in reference to that case. but i think you're going to see a lot of vigilance and i think that's the key word right now, vigilance. sometimes i think we have become a little complacent here in the ited states. but something like this is a vigilance alert to people across the country.

>> tom fuentes, appreciate you joining us. mike brooks as well. we're going to talk more about the investigation and also this story new about american airlines stopping all flights until at least 5:00 p.m., trying to get more information on exact causes of that. they say it is a computer glitch. details ahead. n: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed: the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ [ male announcer ] purpose elevates what we do. raises it to a more meaningful place. makes us live what we do, love what we do and fills our work with rewarding possibility.

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don't miss our seafood dinner for two, just $25 in boston, we are getting some news as far as american airlines is concerned. we know that they have grounded their planes until at least 5:00 eastern time tonight. let's go to maribel aber in new york. >> the airline reported a problem with its reservation and booking tool. american noting that it was experiencing intermittent outages, that's what they're calling it. want to get some stats here. american estimates it flies about 275,000 passengers a day, receives more than 239,000 reservation calls and also flights per day about 5,300

flights. the network system is experiencing outages. at this time we're in a system wide ground delay that will last until 5:00 p.m. eastern time. as we work it resolve this issue as quickly as we can, we apologize for any inconvenience. from a corporate stand point, american airlines is bankrupt, in the process of merging with us airways, but two things i do want to let viewers know here, if you are a passenger, there is no charge for a reservation change if your plans are flexible. second point here, they will give a full refund if your plans are not flexible. and we have reached out to american, to see how many people have been grounded and find out more information. so stand by for that, brooke. that's what we know. >> okay. as soon as you get that, maribel, we'll put you in front of the camera and pass it along. thank you very much. we have heard now from the president who spoke late this morning. we know, of course, that the white house is very deep

involved in this hunt to find the person or persons responsible for the travesty that happened yesterday at the finish line of the boston marathon. what we have now just heard from the vice president, joe biden. we will play that clip for you right after this. be right back. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.

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welcome back to our live coverage from boston, our continuing coverage of the boston area bombings. cnn's jim acosta just recently spoke to vice president joe biden. let's briefly check in with him. jim, what did the vice president say? >> we caught up with vice president joe biden as he was heading into an event to honor former congressional staffer gabe zimmerman, the staffer gunned down in the shooting that also wounded former congressman

gabrielle giffords in tucson. that event is going on now. the vice president is speaking right now. as he was heading into that event, we threw a quick question at mr. biden about the events up in boston, what, if anything, he knows about the investigation. and he acknowledged that the government at this point doesn't have any hard information as he called it in this case. here is what he had to say. >> mr. vice president, any comment on what is happening in boston right now? >> we're going to get to the bottom of this. we don't have any hard information yet, but i can assure you we will find out who did it and bring them to justice. >> no sense as to whether this is domestic or foreign-based. >> not yet. >> and you can hear there as the vice president was walking away, the words not yet. he doesn't know yet whether or not the attack up in boston was domestic or foreign-based. but he said what he said just a few moments ago, inside this event, honoring gabe zimmerman, the government will get to the bottom of this. he's assuring americans of that. and, anderson, from being on

capitol hill all day long, talking to a variety of senators, a lot of senators are expressing the same thought. they just don't know what happened in boston. they are grappling for answers like everybody else. >> yeah, it may be a while before we know. very active investigation on multiple fronts, both here, in boston, in washington, around the country, and really around the world. a lot of resources being pulled into this. jake tapper joins me now. you spoke with an er doctor who was on the scene at the end of the marathon. and lives were saved because triage areas had already been set up because it was the end of the race. >> it is really an incredible story. there were so many doctors and nurses who had volunteered. we spoke with one of them, dr. christina herndon. she works at umass memorial. she talked about the experience, her seventh boston marathon, volunteering, and she talked to us about her experience tending to the patients who had injuries she was not expecting. >> every single patient there is

vulnerable, and injured as they were, had at their side a doctor or a nurse or a medical student or an athletic training student, all these volunteers, who wanted to be nowhere nowhere else othet the side of that injured, vulnerable patient. >> reporter: it bears repeating, just the courage of the first responders and citizens, doctors and nurses, but also regular citizens who ran toward the blast to roll up their sleeves and do whatever they could. >> that is incredible and exactly what she talked about in the interview which we'll play more of coming up on "the lead" at 4:00 eastern is there were all these doctors and nurses. these are not people who are used to war time situations. >> right. >> and people called out, we need doctors. we need nurses. we need help. and they all ran outside into the danger. i just talked to a doctor who was himself running in the race, turned around and went to help people. jake is going to be on in about 15 minutes from now at 4:00 p.m.

eastern. he'll be taking over coverage. we look forward to that. we'll talk to a boston globe photographer who was covering the race and found himself on a completely different kind of story, next. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

you know, here in boston we're talking to all kinds of different people about what they saw, what they heard yesterday

at the finish line from boston's marathon when the two explosions occurred. we've heard from people who ran the race, from family members who were standing by. we've talked to doctors here at hospitals, but we're also hearing from the journalists who were here covering the great city of boston. don lemon actually caught up with one of them, a senior journalist with the boston globe. tell me about his pictures brooke, it's amazing. as you know, many times we'll be standing here interviewing and the story will unfold in front of us. we capture something on tape that is unbelievable. that happened to dave abel who as you said is a senior reporter and photographer for the boston globe. take a look at my interview with him earlier. >> one of the worst things i've ever seen in my life. things nobody ever wants to see. i saw people dying. i saw mangled bodies. i saw a lot of blood. broken glass. a lot of pain.

>> people dying. i see that he's in the video there of people being carted away. this has really affected you. i can tell. >> yeah, yeah. >> why? >> you know, we cover a lot of things as reporters and we -- it takes a little while for us to figure out the effects of it and i'm sure this has affected me. i think the images that i saw sort of seared into my brain. how many people do you think you saw who were injured and how many who had died and lost limbs? >> i was basically adjacent to a large group of people that had been knocked down. a lot of those people had lost limbs. they were bleeding profusely. and a lot of them were just in pure agony. >> and as we stood there, in front of that barricade with the mylar and trappings of the marathon still here, still up and running really, brooke, what

he said to me i thought was really poignant. he said, this is the unfinished marathon. he doesn't know if it will ever be finished. >> i know you've been here in boston all day long and i just flew in from new york a couple hours ago. the two things i noticed in the airport was one for obvious reasons an upped security presence, a lot of police around. two, i saw a lot of people waiting at their gates in the turquoise and yellow adidas marathon jackets. it really is a show of solidarity and community. i'm just curious if you've been out and about in the city, have you noticed the same? >> i have. i have been out and about in the city and talking to a lot of people coming up to us listen, n here in the united states, here in the back bay. one thing i thought was very interesting, a runner who was there with his two children and his wife, said, you know what? i never really thought about it

but this is what terrorism feels like. we're afraid. we're scared. they want to get out of here and go back to ohio and get back to a normal life. >> the sheer definition just being terrorized. as another reporter from "the boston globe" told me it is also about bouncing back. thank you. we'll be right back. on angie's list before i do any projects on my own. at angie's list, you'll find reviews written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

you know, in stories like these, sadly as journalists we tend to cover a number of these tragedies that hit cities across the country and around the

world. i am always amazed and impressed and truly inspired by the people who run into the burning building, run toward the smoke. we witnessed that just yesterday here in boston. not just ems or firefighters but ordinary people. take a look at these i-reports. ♪